


Questions

by Duck_Life



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Adorable Judith, Breakfast, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8467540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: A few years down the road, Judith wants to know about life, death, and marshmallows.





	

Judith starts talking when she’s about three.

She never really stops.

“Why is Dad called Dad?” she asks Carl one morning after he’s poured her cereal and passed the bowl toward her.

“He just is,” Carl shrugs, pouring his own bowl. It’s clear from his little sister’s expression that it’s not a sufficient answer. “He’s… a dad is someone who takes care of you and makes you food and tucks you into bed at night. And he does all that. So we call him Dad.”

Judith chews thoughtfully, mulling it over. Her eyes are so big and wise— owl eyes, he teases her sometimes— and Carl’s frequently amazed at his tiny baby sister who’s becoming this tiny amazing person. “Is Michonne a dad too? She does all those things.”

“Ah,” Carl says, wondering how to phrase this. “No, Michonne’s not our dad, she’s just Michonne. She’s kind of like a dad except she’s funnier. And she has a cool sword.”

“Does everybody have a Michonne?”

Carl grins. “Nope. Just us. We’re very lucky.”

“Does everybody have a dad?”

Something old and familiar twinges in Carl’s gut, and he finds himself thinking of Glenn and Maggie’s kid. “Not everybody,” he says. “Some people only have a mom. A mom is like a dad except she’s a girl. Some people have two dads, or two moms. Sometimes… people lose their dads.”

Her little forehead crinkles in confusion. “How do you lose a dad? They just can’t find him? They just lost him?”

Carl sighs, wishing she could be curious about the vegetable garden or comic books or _anything_ else. “Sometimes,” he says, treading carefully, “people get hurt really bad. And they can’t get better. So they… die. And then they go to heaven.”

“Only if they’re good they go to heaven,” Judith informs him. “If you’re bad you go to hell. And it’s a really bad place and there’s no marshmallows in hell because it’s bad.”

“Uh.” _Kids say the darnedest things_. “Did Father Gabriel tell you that?”

“Uh-huh,” she answers cheerily. “And you know what? You know? If you’re good you get to go to heaven and there’s _lots_ of marshmallows there. And that’s where Uncle Glenn is.”

He inhales sharply through his teeth. “That’s right,” he tells her.

“Is Uncle Glenn still a dad?” she says. “Because Aunt Maggie is a mom. But Uncle Glenn isn’t here.”

“Sure,” Carl says.

“Is Mommy still a mom?”

She just looks so innocently curious and Carl feels the blow straight to his chest. He didn’t know. He didn’t know that Judith knew anything about Lori. Didn’t know that Rick had talked to her about it. “What do you think?” he manages, and he’s got no clue how he’s supposed to talk about Mom and death. He’s out of his depth here.

“Mommy’s in heaven,” Judith says. “With Uncle Glenn. And he’s still a dad so I think… I think she’s still a mom.” Judith pauses to eat some more cereal. “If Mommy’s in heaven is that ‘cause she died?”

“Yeah,” Carl says. He feels like he can still feel the gunshot ringing in his ears. “Mom got hurt because of… because of monsters. And she was protecting you and me from the monsters. And she died.”

“And now she’s in heaven.”

“And now she’s in heaven.”

“And there’s all the marshmallows. Like a thousand marshmallows. Like a hundred.” She smiles wistfully. “I can’t wait till I get to go to heaven and there’s all the marshmallows.”

“You know what?” Carl says, going to the cabinet and pulling out a bag of marshmallows he swiped on his last trip past the walls. “What if we had some marshmallows _right now_?” Judith gasps. “We just can’t tell Dad and Michonne we had marshmallows for breakfast. Okay?”

“Okay,” she says, little fingers grabbing for the bag. She eats up a handful of marshmallows, and she looks absolutely gleeful. “Carl?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you a Dad or a Michonne?” She’s got marshmallow stuck to the corner of her mouth and she seems pensive. “’Cause you make food. But also, but also, you’re funny. So are you a Dad or Michonne?”

“I’m not a Dad or a Michonne,” he says, tilting his hat up. “I’m big brother Carl.”


End file.
